养成每天写Issue的习惯真不易！AI34, 大家改改

34. “All citizens should be required to perform a specified amount of public service. Such service would benefit not only the country as a whole but also the individual participants.”

Whether each citizen should be required to perform a specified amount of public service is not only an issue of social responsibility but also an issue of cost-benefit evaluation. Different people hold different views due to their distinct experiences. As far as I am concerned, although performing a specified amount of public service does good to our society, the compulsory system of public service would bring more unexpected aftermaths. My view will be analyzed as followings.

For the first place, mandating people to provide public service will cause inefficiency to both society and individual participant. Individual has no resources to offer public service while willing to do so. For instance, one person wants to plant some green trees in the neighboring park, but he is not expertise in planting. It will take him more time, more energy or even more money to plant one tree in the park. For this case, government can do so very well. Because government has the authority sources to organize some public service more efficiently by organizing expertise. Therefore, mandating individual to offer public service is not a reasonable way, which leads to inefficient and costly both to individual and society.

For the second place, compulsory system of public service will be so costly that the result will not be the one that people had expected.  Just as laws have to set up a monitor system to punish the person who does not obey the regulations, the compulsory system of public service needs some committee to investigate if some individuals miss the responsibility regulated by the laws. Just imagine that what the cost to set up this kind of system would be, and imagine that if all the resources invested in the system can be put into projects that contribute public services most, what is the result? Therefore, compulsory system of public service is not a cost-benefit case for both society and individual.

In addition, if each citizen should be required to perform public service, what the influence to the ordinary work? People focus on what they should do for public service, and how is the most efficient way, and so on. Their concentration is not the work they are doing now. It is possible that people will throw their professions away to compliant the law requiring of public services. It is also possible that the productivity of the society will decrease because of the distraction of every citizen away from working. Therefore, serious problems will come into being and the whole society would lose the base to develop even the base to survive.

In conclusion, while voluntary civic duty is encouraged, since it will generate benefit to society, mandatory public service is unrealistic and inefficient as we have discussed above. In addition, government can evoke people do more public service by awarding the related actions, by advertising non-commercial issues or by organizing local communities.